


To a Drowning Heart

by Shegry



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Rated For Violence, Swords & Sorcery, i can't believe that's a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 08:45:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2686559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shegry/pseuds/Shegry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prince hadn’t come out of his room for a week, and he hadn’t done anything for the same amount of time, only opened the door to accept the food he was brought and to put what remained outside for a servant to pick up. He hadn’t talked to anyone who came by, hadn’t gone to any classes or meetings, hadn’t come out to train. He’d simply laid on the bed in his chambers, a room that once held laughter and curiosity, but now held only silence and the occasional stirring that turned the maids’ ears if they passed by at the right moment. But nobody ever entered, nobody ever knocked. They just waited outside the door with a tray of food and a note, and whispered through the keyhole that nobody bothered to touch because they all knew the door wasn’t locked anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To a Drowning Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has come quite a ways from when I first wrote it and that's thanks to my wonderful beta who you can find at http://iwowzumi.tumblr.com/ if you want to show them some love, too (which you totally should)!

The prince hadn’t come out of his room for a week. 

He hadn’t done anything for the same amount of time: he only opened the door to accept the food he was brought and to put what remained outside for a servant to pick up. He hadn’t talked to anyone who came by, hadn’t gone to any classes or meetings, hadn’t come out to train. He’d simply laid on the bed in his chambers, a room that once held laughter and curiosity, but now held only silence and the occasional stirring that turned the maids’ ears if they passed by at the right moment. But nobody ever entered, nobody ever knocked. They just waited outside the door with a tray of food and a note, and whispered through the keyhole that nobody bothered to touch because they all knew the door wasn’t locked anyway.

People working in the courtyard had reported to His Majesty that they had seen him sitting out on the balcony of his room, but that he never noticed them. He just stared down at the railing as he laid his head against his hand, looking almost childlike, no movement besides the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

Nobody ever told him that being prince meant losing friends. Nobody ever told him that it could mean losing his own rank to somebody who he’d thought to be below him. “Prince Sugawara-sama,” they would start, “have you heard of the new successor? He makes up for his lack of experience with his pure talent. He’s a genius. I think that the two of you would get along.” And then they would leave and act as if the conversation somehow bettered the young prince in a way, like they had done him a favor in telling him how superior his junior was. “The King,” they’d called Kageyama. Not that it started as a compliment, but now that he’d grown so popular, the name stuck with him. He’d recently ascended to Grand Prince, passing Prince Sugawara.

“What’s experience to somebody with talent?” he’d asked himself. Daichi had told him to stop overthinking things, but he never did. 

It was on the fourth day, when the only things keeping the grey-haired prince company were the patter of footsteps outside the door and the birds that would land on the balcony outside, that he whispered that phrase to himself: “Don’t overthink this.”

On the eighth day one of the gardeners reported that she had seen him look out through the window overlooking the walkway. He looked solemn, she had stated, almost as if he yearned to leave, as if it weren’t him who had put himself there. She had said Prince Koushi Sugawara looked like a bird caught in a cage too small to contain him.

That afternoon, Daichi thought about the times when he would sit in Koushi’s room as the sun started its descent from the sky. The stained glass that bordered his windows were set with yellows and reds and pinks and blues that, at the end of the day, reflected onto the walls and books, the floor and bed, onto their clothes and across their skin, and it always made Daichi stop and admire how the light made Koushi’s expressions so soft. Many people described the young prince as being serious and polite.  Daichi knew he shone of a warm autumn, but hid like a frostbitten spring.

It was a week before Prince Sugawara went into hiding that Asahi came to him and Daichi around noon in the garden courtyard. Knight Sawamura had been assigned to watch over His Royal Highness, to serve as both protection and company. And so, as Koushi and Daichi were walking through the courtyard, and as Koushi knelt down to look at the flowers more closely, they heard the heavy footsteps of Duke Asahi Azumane as he approached them quickly and bowed to Sugawara.

“I was just told,” he started, but had to take a moment to compose himself. “I was just told by Duke Nishinoya Yuu that there is discussion surrounding the next heir.” Koushi turned from the flower he was holding between his fingers and stood back up, nearly forgetting how tall Asahi was and being momentarily paralyzed by how little he was among the two taller and broader boys, as it had been since they were children.

“You have news of the heir?”

Asahi seemed nervous to answer Koushi’s question.

“Sugawara-denka, I’m sorry,” he said, and Daichi looked to Koushi, only to see that warm expression that resembled autumn days and painted leaves fall like the cold snow of winter. “Yuu didn’t hear your name mentioned. They were talking about Kageyama-sama.”

Daichi put a hand on Koushi’s shoulder and whispered, “Don’t overthink this.”

The next day, while Koushi sat at his desk and reviewed his lessons for that day, Daichi stood looking through the books that lined his walls. It was in the early afternoon, when the sun was still high and the servants had not even considered lighting the candles yet. The prince’s grey hair glimmered with specks of white and yellow streaks of daylight.

“Why so much fiction? Don’t you have more important things to be reading?” Daichi asked jokingly as he sat in the chair beside Koushi at the desk, holding a book he’d pulled off one of the shelves. Sugawara’s response was to bump Daichi with his shoulder as he continued to write something down on the parchment in front of him.

Daichi opened the book to one of the stories held between the hard covers of it, one of many from a man who copied down stories for the dukes. Asahi had gotten the book for Koushi when he turned 15, and he had kept it in good condition for the use it had seen in the three years he’d had it.

“The Dream of the Rood, eh? I’ve never heard of Caedmon.” The prince rolled his eyes and let him continue, knowing Daichi would soon succeed in dragging him off-task.  

“Lo!” he started fairly enthusiastically, and Koushi gave in and put down his quill so he could watch Daichi while he read from the book. Sitting in front of the window, somehow his black hair and broad features seemed bolder. “I will tell the fairest of dreams, that came to me at midnight when mortal men abode in sleep. It seemed to me that I beheld a beauteous tree uplifted in the air, enwreathed with light, brightest of beams. All that beacon was enwrought with gold.”

Daichi always seemed so pleased when he would read, and one of the reasons he could do it so well was because when the two were little, Koushi would help him. Of course a knight-to-be wouldn’t be able to attend every reading lesson. They learned strategy and combat and defense and basic orders, but not the kind of reading that was written in books, which was a shame; everybody knew that the boy had an incredible imagination. He was taught by candlelight in an otherwise darkened room, learned how to make out the letters on the parchment, learned how writing was both an educator’s tool and an art form, and how some words seemed only to fit within the confines of stories. Koushi would have been lying if he said that he didn’t find pride in the progress that his friend had made.

“Four jewels lay upon the earth, and five were at the crossing of the arms. All the winsome angels of the Lord gazed upon it through the firmament. Nor was that the cross indeed of any evil-doer, but holy spirits looked upon it, men on earth, and all the bright creation. Wondrous was that victor-tree, and I was stained with sin and wounded with my wickedness. I beheld the cross of glory shining in splendour, graced with hangings and adorned with gold. Worthily had jewels covered over all that forest tree.

“Yet through the gold might I perceive the olden woe of wretched souls, when on the right side it began to bleed. In my sorrow I was greatly troubled, smitten of fear, before that winsome vision. I saw that beacon swiftly change in hangings and in hue; whiles was it all bedewed with moisture, with flowing blood befouled; and whiles adorned with treasure. Natheless, lying there a weary while, I gazed upon the Saviour’s cross with rueful heart, till that I heard how it addressed me; that fairest of all trees began to speak.”

Daichi took a moment to lean back in his chair, and as he ran a hand through his hair, Koushi pushed some of his things away to make enough room on the desk for him to fold his arms and rest his head on them. Though the young prince couldn’t recall having read that particular story before, it seemed like Daichi was reading it as if he’d committed the entire work to memory.

Koushi had long since familiarized himself with Daichi’s rough but unmistakably gentle voice. There was fluidity to it that many overlooked, and it was captivating in the most bittersweet ways. Daichi was a pillar, he was support and leadership, and his voice reflected the nighttime hues of candles in windowsills and the moon against the otherwise abysmal sky.

It was the voice of beauty with the uncertainty of intangibility, one that was most gentle when there were no other voices to be heard, that reflected warmth and could shine brightly and freely. Koushi didn’t realize how lost in that voice he could become until it was suddenly gone, and when he looked up, the knight was studying the book with what looked like a mix of curiosity and frustration.

“What is a sepulchre?” he finally asked when he looked to the other.

Koushi had to think for a moment; that wasn’t a word that he had heard in quite a while. “It’s like a tomb. With rock walls,” he responded, and Daichi simply nodded and continued with the same easiness as before.

“ ‘- out of the gleaming rock they carved it. And there they laid the God of victory. In the even-tide with woeful hearts they sang a dirge. Full soon must they depart again, soul-weary, from their mighty Prince. So with a little band He rested there.”

Koushi wasn’t sure why he felt so at ease then, being read to by candlelight with a parchment forgotten under his arms. If he did know, then he never disclosed it to anybody as flames flicked over him and washed the dark room in an unsteady stream of orange. He never told anyone that at that moment Daichi’s voice seemed to come to life in his bedroom, that their surroundings made him feel as though his thoughts were resonating with the same intensity as that voice made from silk and stone.

“Hope was renewed, with blessedness and bliss, for those who then endured the fires of hell. Triumphant was the Son upon that journey, mighty with speed and fortune, when with a multitude, a host of spirits, He, ruling alone, Almighty, came unto the kingdom of God, to the joy of angels and all holy souls, who dwelt in heaven in glory then, when their Lord, the mighty God, came where was His home-land.”

When the story concluded, Daichi closed the book with a slap that made the dust particles in the air dance through the light rays in front of them, and as Koushi lifted his head from his makeshift pillow on the desk, he saw his friend smiling almost triumphantly down at the book in his hands before he stood to return it to the shelf.

Koushi thought that maybe Daichi was like the tree, outwardly covered in gems and beauty, and he hoped that if he looked closely, he wouldn’t see blood and battle scars.

Three days before the prince locked himself away, he had a council with the king. His Majesty called in both Prince Sugawara and Grand Prince Kageyama, and Suga knew that had his brother still been alive, the meeting wouldn’t have taken place at all. Daichi waited outside the door on guard, as did Kageyama’s respective knight.

Every so often, he would hear fragments of their conversation when it grew heated enough for them to raise their voices, but it was always just pieces, single sentences before silence and then the usual indistinguishable muffled voices.

“But that’s not your decision!”

“How do you know that?”

“That’s not fair!”

A loud thud, maybe a chair falling over alerted the two knights, and though they waited for something to happen, nothing came but the sound of voices.

“Sit down!” Daichi recognized that as the voice of His Majesty, and prayed that the next voice he would hear wouldn’t be-

“No, I’ve had enough.” Prince Sugawara.

There was muffled sound before Koushi’s voice came through again. “I don’t care! I never asked for this. I never-” The voice died out.

“Sawamura-san, you look anxious. Maybe it’s toxic for you to be the guard of your best friend,” Kageyama’s knight had said, but Daichi thought that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

It was that night when the two of them were sitting in Koushi’s room as the sun went down that Daichi caught something glint in the light of the lantern above the desk, and he turned his head from the book he was reading to watch as the prince’s crown fell from the top of his head and onto the parchment that was covered in shaky lettering and smudged ink. His head was in his hands.

“Koushi,” the other said hesitantly, penetrating the heavy atmosphere of the room. The smaller boy curled in on himself in the chair and wiped his eyes with the heals of his palms; they came away glistening wet.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said with a brittle voice and an almost trademarked smile, and the little bits that were off about it made Daichi never want to see Koushi smile like that again. Smiles weren’t supposed to be born of trembling lips and sad eyes. Beautiful hazel that shone auburn in the illumination of the lantern was bordered by flickering orange where the tears were pushed away.

Eventually the oil ran out and the two fell into sleep aided by the heaviness of careful conversation and the gentle brush of calloused skin.

The two young dukes were in the castle on the morning that followed, eagerly trotting about the halls (it was mostly Asahi being dragged along by an exuberant Yuu). Many of the castle-goers found their dynamic rather amusing: a short energetic duke with a blond strike in his otherwise wild black hair who spent his time around a tall, broad, timid boy who looked like he belonged in a blacksmith’s shop instead of a castle, long brown hair in a tight bun behind his head. The two were a fairly destructive duo, and Duke Yuu Nishinoya was often the reminder to the citizens of just how young the royalty really was, being primarily composed of teenage boys. The royal advisors would scoff at their immaturity and tell them to act more like leaders, but in reality they still did their jobs and attended lessons, respected their seniors, and were beloved throughout the kingdom.

The two stopped in front of the door with the LXXXVIII carved into it, the room they both knew well enough to be the study of Prince Koushi Sugawara. It was still early, the light just barely filtering through the windows, and when Yuu’s knuckles on the door rang throughout the hallway a guard snoring a few feet away flinched awake.

The door opened to a tired Daichi, a hand covering his mouth as he yawned. When Asahi looked through the doorway, he found Koushi still asleep and motioned for Yuu to talk quietly with a bump from his hip and a finger to his lips, and Daichi only let the both of them in when he saw the young duke nod. He looked over to the prince in bed, blankets pulled tight over his shoulder, and padded softly back to his seat at the table to the side of the room.

While Yuu tried to keep his voice down, smile still plastered widely across his face, the two of them sat in other empty chairs at the moderately sized table in Koushi’s room. The clattering of the wooden chairs on the floor made Daichi glare at them, but they both gave him apologetic looks and he let up. “Why are you two so early?” he asked softly, his hands around a cup of steaming tea that the maids had brought for him.

“We have news,” Yuu said a bit too excitedly, and Asahi hit him lightly to get him to lower his voice. The bed stirred slightly, then settled.

“What kind of news?”

Asahi leaned across the table towards him, lowering his tone. “We have news of a sorcerer by the name of Oikawa Tooru who lives in the woods outside the nearby village. If Koushi-denka is willing, he might be able to fix his, er, dilemma.”

Yuu looked at him expectantly, nodding, and Daichi leaned back in his chair to process that. There was a sorcerer who could have been able to get Koushi the recognition he deserved, and who was in close range. If Koushi wanted to do it, they would have been able to in an hour or so and get back before it got dark.

“Do you think he’ll agree?” Yuu asked, loud enough to wake the boy who had been sleeping nearby.

“Will who agree to what?” he inquired sleepily, rubbing tiredness from his eyes as he sat up in the bed behind the group.

“They found a sorcerer,” Daichi disclosed, “and they want to know if you’d be interested in visiting him.”

“Visiting him…?”

“To fix your ‘always being ignored’ proble-” Yuu was cut off by a swift kick to his calf from under the table and a stern look from the black haired knight across from him. “Ow.”

“Well, since we’re being blunt, they think this sorcerer might be able to get you some recognition, if you’d want to go visit him. They say the trip isn’t that far.”

“It’s about two hours on foot,” Asahi confirmed.

“So it’s a two hour trip, but we have no idea what this man will be like. It’s your call.”

The prince looked down at the floor contemplatively, his arms crossed in his lap and the sheets riding up his chest. “I don’t know. I don’t want to do it like that.”

“But if you don’t, you might not get the opportunity to prove yourself to him,” Asahi said carefully. “He hasn’t exactly been the perfect father figure. You might have to if you want to get your position back.”

Daichi looked between the two of them as Koushi thought it over, but eventually he nodded and ran a hand through his bedhead. “Yeah, alright, why not?”

Yuu’s smile returned, and Asahi’s lips turned up as well. Daichi shuffled the two of them out of the room while Koushi got dressed and prepared for what would be a total of four hours of walking, and he stood outside with them until the door opened beside him.

“Why don’t you two go pick up food? Tell the cooks that I sent you, and if they have a problem tell them to see me.” The two dukes nodded and headed down the hallway quickly to pick up breakfast and food for later on in the trip. “I need to go tell His Majesty that I’ll be out. Come with me to make sure he knows that I won’t be alone, not that he’ll care.”

It hurt Daichi a little that Koushi referred to his father as “His Majesty,” but he wasn’t going to argue, so he nodded and turned toward the throne room that neither of them saw very often.

The guards outside the door stood aside when they saw Prince Sugawara approach, followed closely by Knight Sawamura, and Koushi opened the doors to reveal the king sitting in the middle of the room, talking to one of the head tailors for the royals. The man dismissed himself quickly and walked out with a bow, so the others stepped forward and gave bows of their own.

“Sawamura-san and I are going to tend to some business on the outskirts of the neighboring village. I’ll be under his supervision while I’m away.” The young prince looked to the king expectantly, but it didn’t seem as if the man had been paying too much attention.

“Do as you wish,” he said flatly and Koushi gave a bow before walking out with Daichi at close range. The guards outside the doors bowed respectively as they left, and the pair made their way to the kitchen where the dukes were waiting for them with a basket full of breads and fruit, and they set off.

The beginning of their trek was relatively uneventful. Beside the occasional villager bowing as they passed, the walk through the outer part of the town went by easily. Their generation of royalty was generally revered by the public, after all.

The conversations between the four of them were light; the three knew that it would be best not to bring up anything that would make Koushi either doubt the trip or upset him. They spoke mostly of fairies who were said to dance around the flowers they would pass when nobody was looking, about the dragons that were rumored to live in the cave on the north side of the village, of the stars that lit up at night that they would go out to watch when they couldn’t sleep, and of the rain during the spring that would make the plants in the courtyard bloom with brilliant color and make the bushes grow high enough that the gardeners would have to go out and trim them.

“The only bad thing about the rain is that it makes the roofs less sturdy. Do you know who has to deal with that then? Me!” Yuu crowed. The group laughed, and even Koushi couldn’t shake a smile from his face.

“You just got lucky with that one,” Asahi said with a gentle expression, chuckling. Koushi and Daichi snickered.

“But what about the mud?” Yuu asked excitedly. “And watching people get… splashed… Did you guys hear that?”

The four boys stopped in their tracks when Yuu paused and held his arm out. “There was rustling nearby.” Daichi rolled his eyes.

“That could be literally anything, come on. Unless you’re afraid,” he jested.

“Okay, you’re kidding, but I actually am,” he said and looked around with all the caution of a cornered gazelle. He had dropped the basket of food that remained from their breakfast and angled himself in between Koushi and the forest where it was separated by the path, and Asahi followed the action.

“Guys, I think you might be overreacting a little,” said prince muttered, seemingly embarrassed that the two chose to put themselves so brazenly in the way of danger for him, and even though he was doubtful, Daichi put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The way they had been standing, Koushi didn’t immediately realize that he could have been in very real trouble, but a pained shout from behind him was enough to make him whip around fast enough to make himself dizzy.

A wolf stood off to the side, and the prince found himself frozen. There was the sound of a blade being drawn, a broken bark transitioning to a whine, and then silence. He didn’t realize he’d stopped processing the events that had been unfolding until Yuu shook him back to his senses.

Daichi had already began wrapping Asahi’s arm in broad leaves by the time the duke got a response from a very razzled Sugawara. The brunet seemed to be taking it well at least, though it did make Koushi feel guilty for putting his friends in harm’s way. The discomfort must have been written on his face, because Asahi shook his head when they caught each others’ eyes.

“Don’t overthink this,” Daichi said, tying the leaves tight to the boy’s arm with thin, green branches that he knew weren’t brittle enough to break.

Yuu eventually got the group back onto lighthearted conversation, talking about how silly the wind was when it blew through his hair and made it even more dishevelled than it usually appeared. The three of them were laughing at Daichi’s short hair when Asahi spotted a cabin along the path that they had been following. He shaded the sun with his hand as they walked closer. He couldn’t tell if it was the sorcerer’s cabin or not, all he had heard was the man’s name, and the title that he used: The Grand Sorcerer.

“Do you think that’s it?”

Daichi shrugged. “There’s really only one way to find out.”

The knight led them to the worn-out wooden door on the front of the tiny abode, followed by the prince and the two dukes, Yuu was peering out from behind his taller counterpart. Daichi rapped against the door, hitting hard but careful. After a moment of muffled movement, the door opened to reveal a devious-looking man - no, boy - with a grin and a white cloak.

“Hey,” he said in a nonchalant tone. “What brings a group of bluebloods to my personal domicile?”

He couldn’t have been much older than the four of them were, and if he was, he sure didn’t look it. He was _pretty_ , if a boy ever was, with light brown hair and soft features, but he looked mature, too. His eyes were the image of roguery. They could all tell, too, that he was pretentious, and it was reflected in his speech.

“Are you The Grand Sorcerer?” Daichi asked, hoping to appeal to the magician’s confidence. His grin grew wider and he nodded.

“So you’ve heard of me! Wonderful, that’ll make introductions easier. Why don’t the four of you come in?”

They were all rightfully cautious, but they did allow Tooru to lead them inside. The den where they were led was rather spacious, colored with purples and blues. He sat crosslegged on a rug in the middle of the floor.

“What is it that you seek?”

Koushi raised his voice in response. “We were wondering if it’s possible to change somebody’s fate.” the other three remained quiet. Prince Sugawara _was_ the reason they were there, after all.

“Of course it’s possible,” he answered, leaning his elbows forward onto his knees.

“Can somebody like you do such a thing?” Koushi asked for clarification. He was being more on-guard than usual.

“Of course I can, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to cost you.” Tooru’s eyes seemed to glint.

“And what will it cost, then?”

“Oh, just a little karma. You don’t pay it to me, you pay it to the universe. I’m not a god, after all,” but Koushi thought that with the way he was acting, that he thought he might have been.

“All you have to do is name your fate,” he continued.

The young prince thought it over for a moment, looking between the other three for some sort of encouragement or discouragement, but the looks they all gave back were of trust.

He thought hard about what exactly he wanted to happen. Koushi didn’t want to completely remove Prince Kageyama from his position, and he wanted to feel like _he_ had earned it. He didn’t want the king to praise him for ridiculous reasons, either, just for His Majesty to acknowledge him when he deserved to be acknowledged, instead of cast aside and ignored.

He didn’t want to cheat his way into power.

Then what was he doing with a sorcerer?

“Make the king recognize my ability.”

Tooru Oikawa’s smile stretched all the way across his face, composed of teeth and mischief, but then he nodded and clapped his hands together in front of himself and he boasted, “Then it shall be done.”

The Grand Sorcerer dictated something in a tongue that none of the others understood, and after a moment he rose from the floor with a nod.

The four got up cautiously, thanked him, and began filing out of the cabin, but as they were leaving, Daichi stopped in the doorway.

“Why didn’t you ask for anything in return?”

What they got in response was, “Because the universe will pay me for my service,” and then the closing of the door as the sorcerer retreated inside.

The journey back from that little cabin in the woods went about the same as the trip there, but without the wolf, and more laughter. The sun was still high, and they ate on the way. Birds that flew close received pieces of bread, and some trailed behind to eat the crumbs they left as they walked.

As they neared the edge of the woods, the four of them were all still talking idly and laughing to themselves, and Yuu ran ahead of them, eager to get back. He had said that he was looking forward to try on a new order of clothes that was supposed to have arrived at the castle at about noon. He was walking backwards, exclaiming with exaggerated hand movements, the details of the new coats they were to receive, and he didn’t see the person dressed in black who appeared from the tree beside him.

Daichi drew his sword as Asahi moved to cover his prince before Koushi even registered what was happening, but he anchored his mind much faster than in the previous experience, and he was shouting and looking around Asahi’s large frame as he spotted Daichi holding the man at the end of his sword.

Daichi’s voice was loud, and he shouted to the man in his hold. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Long live the king,” he muttered, and the knight wasted no more time in ending him right there.

Asahi was physically restraining Koushi by the time the man was dead. The prince was shouting and squirming to get past him, and it wasn’t until Daichi moved over to Yuu that the brunet released him.

There was blood on the dirt of the path and staining the back of the duke’s shirt, and Asahi gasped when he saw the boy laying there. He was dead, there was no doubt, he was dead and laying face down on the dirt path, blond streak of hair muddied brown from his fall. Asahi carefully picked up Yuu’s body, carried him like a mother would carry her sleeping child, and let his tears hit the front of the boy’s shirt. Prince Koushi Sugawara did not cry.

It was that night that Duke Asahi Azumane died of poisoning: there was belladonna in the meat. His death was not a painless one.

On the tenth day, Koushi cried at the burial of his two beloved friends as they were sent to the family tomb as requested by Daichi. Nobody saw any objection.

There was gossip at the funeral, talk not of death, but of the one person that they couldn’t believe was still alive.

“Isn’t that the prince?”

“They say he’s a shut-in now.”

“What’s he doing at the dukes’ funeral?”

“I heard he killed them.”

“Is that why he never leaves his room any more?”

“What was his name again?”

“I only ever hear about Kageyama-sama any more.”

“What a shame, and he’s so attractive, too.”

“The king must be disappointed in him.”

Koushi had no reason to listen to the mindless chatter of the duchesses and barons who thought it appropriate to run their mouths. He tried his best to ignore them; he remembered Daichi’s words to him, kept telling himself that _they’re not worth it_ , but he couldn’t help being dragged down by the thoughtlessness. He wasn’t deaf, after all, and he certainly wasn’t strong.

The prince didn’t talk to anybody at the funeral, kept to himself like that frostbitten spring that disguises itself as winter so that nobody forgets the beauty that lies in the rain and the budding flowers that will follow. His tears fell like snow in autumn, far too cold and much too early. He did not yet know how to deal with them.

He was still sitting in front of the grave after everybody else had taken their leave, staring numbly at the tomb that now held not only his blood relatives, but also two of the people closest to him who would remain permanently 18. _Too young_ , he thought to himself, _they were too young. I’m still far too young._

It seemed like an eternity before anybody bothered to approach him, not that he was expecting somebody to. A gentle and familiar hand laid itself upon his shoulder, and he turned to see raven hair and gentle brown eyes as Daichi kneeled down to be at the prince’s level. He hadn’t talked to him in ten days, but somehow his eyes seemed to tell Daichi everything he needed to know. This time his tears were stopped by a strong shoulder and were accompanied by a tight grip.

“I never meant for this to happen,” he stuttered between sniffles and heavy sobs. Daichi’s arms around him brought him closer; it was fitting that he would make Koushi feel protected. Daichi was an anchor to a drowning heart, but at least they were drowning together.

“I know,” he whispered. “It’s okay. We’re still here.”

In that moment, Koushi stopped thinking about his brother and the two dukes in the tomb before him, stopped thinking about Tooru Oikawa in the woods, stopped thinking about blood and blond against a sea of black, of long brown hair and gentle laughter. He stopped thinking about everything but Daichi, held him tighter, held him possessively, because he was right. They were still there, and Prince Koushi Sugawara wasn’t going to let anything happen to his knight, born of courage and pride, who could almost always be found in room 88, and who saved him from drowning, but not by bringing him up for air. No, instead Knight Daichi Sawamura had breathed the life back into him.

**Author's Note:**

> The full work of what Daichi read can be found [here](http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/Dream_Rood_Kennedy.pdf), if you wanna read it.
> 
> Comments and discussions are always welcome! I might write more of this if there's enough feedback, since I did this under a time constraint and could definitely expand on some things. Also if you feel so inclined you can follow me on [tumblr](http://autisticsurei.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/sunlithero).


End file.
